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San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle is going to play against the Green Bay Packers in Week 12. Kittle missed Week 11’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks with a hamstring injury that flared up after the 49ers’ win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in early November, but he’s not letting that injury keep him out of this one.
For interested fantasy football managers and 49ers fans alike, this is the type of soundbite that you can take to the bank with a player like Kittle.
“I will be playing on Sunday,” Kittle said on Wednesday afternoon, according to ESPN. “Very excited. Can’t pass up playing the Packers, so no, I will be out there for sure.”
There’s always, of course, the potential for an unexpected flair-up. Those things happen often in the NFL, but it sure sounds like Kittle is energetic about the prospect of playing the Packers. And why wouldn’t he be? The last time he played Green Bay was in the 2023 postseason when he put up four catches for 81 yards (20.3 yards per catch) and a touchdown in San Francisco’s 24-21 NFC Divisional Playoffs win over Jordan Love and the Pack. Two years before that, in the 2021 postseason, he caught four passes for 63 yards (15.8 yards per catch) in the 49ers’ 13-10 NFC Divisional Playoffs win over the Packers.
Kittle plays well against the Packers, and that’s one of the main predictions for him in this Week 12 clash.
This is probably the biggest point that fans of the 49ers will be wondering about. Kittle says he wants to play, and that’s one thing. But if he plays, will he look good while doing it? It’s worth noting that Kittle did practice for the 49ers on Wednesday, but he was limited. He didn’t practice last Wednesday before the game against the Seahawks, but he was limited for Thursday and Friday’s practice. There was some hope he could play against Seattle, but the 49ers decided to keep him out to avoid any more complications.
Hamstrings can be complicated, and the Niners didn’t want to risk their star-tight end for just one game.
“They’re just really finicky, and it’s one of those things that you can just be running a random route, and all of a sudden you pull it even more, and then it’s four to six weeks, and then I’m on probably season-ending IR,” Kittle explained on Wednesday. “It was just something we wanted to make sure I had full confidence in, and I did not have full confidence in it.”
If he’s saying he’ll play against the Packers, then Kittle must have full confidence in the hamstring. Throw in that extra week of rest, and it stands to reason that he’ll look healthy out there in Week 12.
Continuing the exploration of Kittle’s numbers against the Packers, consider his output in 2019. He caught just one pass...
